Lightweight and portable, accessibility with large print modes and customization options, flexibility, hard drive that contains a library of alexandria scale of information, ability to instantly distribute knowledge, get a copy of a book in thousands of readers without the massive up-front printing costs. Ink and paper books simply don't compare, they will eventually exist solely for the sake of nostalgia and novelty, like vinyl records.

Plus, read a word you don't know? Touch it and a dictionary definition comes up, and it gets added to a vocabulary builder you can refer back to later, with flashcard quizzing. Want to know more on a subject? Instant wikipedia lookup. X-ray for supported books means you can refer back to characters and their relationships, mentions in the book, etc. Go instantly back to certain chapters, take notes, add bookmarks. I love my frigging kindle.

X-ray is soo freaking good for books with different character names, I'm reading a translated Norwegian series (Harry Hole) and it's sweet for reminding me who these people are whose names didn't register cause I can't pronounce them in my mind. Probably also good for the game of thrones books or other things with a billion characters.

I am reading the same series at the moment, in the middle of "The Redeemer" now. I have a Kobo HD Glo though, so no X-ray function :/ maybe I would have bought a Kindle if I knew about that function (and the dictionary is better in Kindle, too).

The only reason I can't see us ever fully abandoning books is the need for physical records. If modern tech/the internet/the power grid implodes one day in true post-apocalyptic fashion any knowledge that isn't on paper or in someone's head is lost.

It might reach the point where only like preservationists/the library of congress actually get and keep them but a physical book will not go extinct

Look at it this way, with digitally distributed copies, there could be literally millions of copies around for next to no cost. Once a copy is recovered, making a million more is easy. Backups of ink and paper is much more difficult.

I'd say only for a short time. At least among programmers the general knowledge of the composition of a transistor and its mode of function would be preserved in our heads. Keep one of us alive long enough to write it down and then its just a matter of slowly building up the tech to the point where we can read our backups again. Long term archival storage tends to be on tapes because they're cheap so we wouldn't even need to get that far before we could read the whole of human knowledge again.

I have left reddit for a reddit alternative due to years of admin mismanagement and preferential treatment for certain subreddits and users holding certain political and ideological views.

The situation has gotten especially worse since the appointment of Ellen Pao as CEO, culminating in the seemingly unjustified firings of several valuable employees and bans on hundreds of vibrant communities on completely trumped-up charges.

The resignation of Ellen Pao and the appointment of Steve Huffman as CEO, despite initial hopes, has continued the same trend.

As an act of protest, I have chosen to redact all the comments I've ever made on reddit, overwriting them with this message.

Finally, click on your username at the top right corner of reddit, click on the comments tab, and click on the new OVERWRITE button at the top of the page. You may need to scroll down to multiple comment pages if you have commented a lot.

Honestly the only thing I prefer about my Kindle is being able to pirate books.

I would much rather have a physical book that I know can never be revoked or changed, that I can give as a gift or sell or donate, that isn't reliant on me replacing a device for the rest of my life, that never has formatting issues, never needs troubleshooting, that has nice artwork, that is easy to flip through, that can get a little wet, that if damaged doesn't affect my ability to read all the other books I own.

EDIT: I checked 10 other books, and 6 of them were cheaper as paperback. However the cheaper kindle versions tended to be very slightly cheaper (20p), while the biggest disparity was £4.99 vs £9.99 in favour of the paperback.

EDIT2: Apparently this is an unpopular fact. People are downvoting & straight telling me I'm wrong. Check it yourself it takes <2 minutes

Check your local library. Most have e-reader downloads (as well as audibooks through apps like Overdrive). The files just "self destruct" when the lending period is over. But you can rent it out again. My parents went from going to the library 2-3 times a week to only once a month after I got them Nooks for Christmas.

Because you want to get the book legitimately, but you want to read it on whatever device you choose. For example, I like to read on my phone. My phone is a Windows Phone. The best reader on Windows Phone is Freda, but Freda doesn't implement Adobe ADEPT. Therefore any time I want to read a book on my phone, I need to crack it.

Because torrented books are all jacked up sometimes. It would be easier to get a DRM'd book straight from the publisher and break the DRM with the latest removal tools. I was just curious if tools were out there to break this specific form of DRM.

Calibre is a library manager, not a DRM cracker. There are plugins, but that's not the core functionality of calibre.

But yes, with the help of your old friend Apprentice Alf, library book DRM can be removed. If you have the choice, get the epub version which uses Adobe's ADEPT DRM, crack it, and then read the book wherever you like. You can then be a good citizen and return the book early so someone else may read it. Just be careful not to return too many things too early or you'll get flagged.

I'm not sure if it's just my local library or not (Miami Dade public library), but I usually wind up on a month long waiting list for anything worth reading. That's fine because I'm on a few lists and just read them as they become available, but sometimes I wind up being too busy to read when my rental is available so I have to wait again, or I want a specific book asap for one reason or another.

Still though, I love my iPad, and prefer reading on it over reading a paper book.

There's 28 books on my Kindle, probably overkill but I've read six of them since Christmas because they're so easily accessible wherever I am. I went from redditing on the toilet to reading actual literature. It's a welcome break.

We have thousands of years of great literature available freely at Project Gutenberg and I'm always disappointed more people don't know about it.

Great literature didn't start after 1927, there are many great works freely available. The best part is that everything there has stood the test of time. You don't have to sift through all the crap, time has done it for you! How many books from 2015 will be read in 2215 or 2515? Not many, but most of what is available on project Gutenberg will still be read into the year 3015 (if we survive that long)

I've read over a hundred books on my Kindle from various places, and the only one that has never worked right was Andromeda Strain. Every single instance of the word "Jesus" was changed to "Judas". I only got a few chapters in because reading "Judas Christ!" was infuriating.

I swear I downloaded 4 or 5 copies and they all had the same thing, but when I bought it from Amazon it had "Jesus" exactly as it was supposed to.

I love being able to read in the dark. When I read with a lamp I'll take ages to get properly tired after I turn the lamp off. With my Kindle I can read in almost totally darkness which helps me get tired then when I set my Kindle down I fall asleep almost immediately.

From my experience there are two kinds of people who don't use ereaders. The first are normal people who just have a genuine preference for real books and don't make a big deal about it. The second are the people who love to go on about how there is something intrinsically better about books and they just love the smell or whatever. With these kinds of people you get the impression that they are more in love with the idea of reading than actually reading anything. These are the people who own bookshelves full of impressive books they've never read.

At the end of the day, readers shouldn't care too much. The words are what matter, not the presentation.

Personally there's something about the kindle that doesn't engross me. Maybe it's because I usually skim read everything that's on a screen (assignments, Facebook profiles etc) and that's caused some sort of conditioning to feel bored.

When I'm reading a book though I find it a lot easier to be immersed and only think of what's in front of me.

I'm not anti-kindle per se but my monkey brain still prefers printed text.

Amazon are actually quite good with eBook prices now. It used to be much worse until Amazon won some sort of price wars with the publishers as they were the ones keeping eBooks prices artificially high compared to Paper backs.

While you are right that some eBook prices books are higher, the opposite can also be true depending on the books. Here are some of the books I read:

Not downvoting here, but I think to look at 10 books and make a general comment is a little strange and I don't think your conclusion is accurate.

I've spent maybe £3000 on kindle books over the last 5 years, and I always check the price of the paperback version out of curiosity. At a guess, 80% of them were cheaper than the paperback version, some by a significant margin. And that's ignoring the many (maybe 100 or so) older books and 'first-in-series' teasers that I got for free.

I remember being very surprised the first time I saw a Kindle book was more expensive than the paperback. It was maybe the 25-30th Kindle book I bought. It's less rare now than years back but still not as common as the other way around.

Not sure if it's the same in the UK, but when I bought the Harry Potter books for my kindle a few months ago, the Amazon checkout would take me to the Pottermore website to complete the purchase there. Once done, the site would register the purchase in Amazon. Odds are, Pottermore controls the kindle price more-so than Amazon.

Generally speaking, new books are around $10 CAD on kindle and $15 soft-cover.

The digital option isn't cheaper at all. LifeProTip: You can walk into Barnes and Noble and just slip a book into your pants and walk out without paying. Boom. Every book ever, free, and in a hard copy.

Why not both? I read 3-4 books per month from my library (and another 4-5 audiobooks from library), and another 3-4 books per month on my kindle. I only end up paying for maybe one book per month, and am constantly supplied with good reading.

E-Readers are fantastic for hard to find books in the public domain. I can't imagine how much time and money I have saved just downloading e-books rather than tracking down and/or purchasing old novels.

In the Kindle's defence (I know you're already 'converted'), because it's got an E Ink display, it's like looking at paper, and because you only really use the battery when you 'turn the page', it can last a long time on one charge.

It really depends on how bright you make the screen. It's a million times less strain than if you would be reading a book with a lamp pointing at it. The secret to it is making the screen just slightly dim in complete darkness.

It's exactly the same as paper. You really can't tell the difference when you've got it in your hands. The light on the Paperwhite is in front of the display, just like a book light would be, so I've never found any eye strain when reading in the dark.

I had the first Kindle version (looked waaaaaaaaay different) and would always get people asking about it because most didn't know what an e-reader was, and the ones that did scoffed at them. Every single person I showed mine to, let them hold it, read from it, etc, without fail loved it. I firmly believe that those that dislike e-readers haven't used one before because once you do, it is hard to go back. It's like trying to read a scroll after you've been using books. Why bother with inferior technology? Sure once society breaks down we won't have power companies, but I have a solar charger, I'm good.

I still have an old school Kindle. It's white with a keyboard and has whispernet only, no WiFi. It has no touchscreen either, just physical buttons to change pages. The thing is stupid old and it's still stupid comfy to read on.

I've actually had every Kindle they've ever made and that old white one is still my favorite.

Our public library doesn't lend books which can be read by Kindle (at least that's what they told me - although as I write this I guess it can't be correct). I have a "Kobo", which I think is fine. My son has a Kindle - and I can see advantages in terms of the shop, which seems to have a larger selection. On the other hand, the Kobo easily accepts "epub" books.

And expats/international students! During my first stay abroad, I bought a lot of books. Couldn't take all of them home with me, even though I tried to send some as package that never arrived. Second time abroad, I started to buy books again and reminded myself of the heartbreak and hassle. Saw someone reading with an ereader, was totally amazed (it really looks fantastic, I hadn't known how good it was!), got one myself. Jumped from reading one book a year back to my book-inhaling self. It's now my third time abroad, and I already had so much shit I wanted to bring - luckily I had my books already with me digitally!

I have completely stopped buying print. I love the concept of books. The feel, the smell, the look on the shelf, then I remember the facts behind the nostalgia: having to use two hands to hold and turn pages with some positions just being really inconvenient (especially with hard cover books), and my bookshelves look like crap because I have to have my print collection Tetrissed in because I have way more books than room to store them, and then when I'm on vacation I'd have to bring ten pounds of books with me to keep me happy...

Give me that e reader any day. Hell, I don't even use that thing anymore. I think it's been buried in a closet fur the last few years. I just use my phone. Now I always have full access to my library wherever I am.

Not if you just switch to white text and black background and turn down the brightness, or better, use night light in the Google play books app which turns off blue light (like f.lux). I can read for hours on my phone without any strain at all.

On the other side of the coin, when I think of that summer when I had to read the lord of the rings for my English class all I remember is how fucking heavy and inconvenient that book was. There was no position I could comfortably read that book without falling asleep.

that's a one time purchase that will hurt business in the future for the store (why come back to buy a book when you can get it on your ereader online). if there was a way for a brick-and-mortar store to sell ebooks, then it would be beneficial to sell ereaders.

the only thing i don't like about text on a computer screen is everyone seems to default to black text on a bright background because it "looks like paper" but that's stupid, it should be white/light text on a black background. way easier on the eyes.

I find it easier to pick up and read an ebook than a paperback these days. I used to read paperback all throughout high school. It was a great escape. But I stopped in college. It is hard to get back into reading when there is no need for escape but ebooks make it easier to tap what I want to read, flip though a few pages, and go to bed.

personally, since i have a terrible memory. i find the kindle alot more conveniant then having piles and piles of books. sure i still buy some books which i consider my favorites on hardcopy. because they have a certain feel to them. but the kindle is still alot more conveniant.

I don't really understand this. I like books because of the stories. I like what they do to my mind and my imagination.

Now, I totally agree that the "art" of some books includes the medium through which they are consumed. For example, Abarat by Clive Barker has beautiful and terrifying illustrations. The "art" of that book is only whole when it includes the illustrations. It should be experience in printed form.

But if the "art" of the book is the story itself, the actual words, who cares? If you like books because you "like the smell of pages" (I have heard this trite line more times than i would like to count) then thats fine. You are welcome to read books in paperback and hardcover. You never need to touch a kindle. But if i am reading A Prayer For Owen Meany for the 5th time, and I want to use the convenience of the Kindle, that does not make me less of a book lover.

I enjoy reading books on an ipad or kindle but one thing I miss about having a physical book is the ability to flip through pages faster. The apps are getting better at allowing bookmarks, highlighting text and just being able to navigate through text easier.

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